1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a door weather strip for a motor vehicle, which is adapted to effect a seal between a door of the motor vehicle and a door opening portion of a vehicle body.
2. Description of Related Art
As show in FIG. 1, a seal between a door 10 of a motor vehicle and a door opening portion 12 of a vehicle body is effected by a door weather strip 14 attached to an outer periphery of a door frame 16 of the door 10, and/or an opening weather strip attached to a flange of the door opening portion 12. And a seal between a glass door 20 and the door 10 is effected by a glass run attached in a channel 18 provided along an inner periphery of the door frame.
As shown in FIG. 2, conventionally, the door weather strip 14 attached to the outer periphery of a door frame 16A of a first type has been composed of a base portion 22, a tubular seal portion 24 and a seal lip 26. The tubular seal portion 24 and the seal lip 26 are formed on the upper side of the base portion 22 integrally therewith. The base portion 22 is fitted in a retainer 28 having a U-shaped cross-section, which is secured to the outer periphery of the door frame 16. As a result, the base portion 22 is secured to the door frame 16A. When the door 10 is closed, the seal lip 26 contacts an outer side edge of the door opening portion 12 to seal a gap between a peripheral edge of the door frame 16 and the door opening portion 12. And when the door 10 is closed, the tubular seal portion 24 contacts a protrusion of the door opening portion 12 on the interior side of the contacting position of the seal tip 26 to effect a seal between the door 10 and the door opening portion 12.
And, recently, hidden type doors have been frequently used to meet demands for improvement in design of motor vehicles. In a hidden type door, in order to reduce a gap between the door and the door opening portion, the width of an exterior side end of a door frame 16B of a second type is decreased so that, in one example shown in FIG. 3, an exterior part of a door weather strip 30 is required to be reduced by decreasing the width of an exterior vertical wall 32 of an outer panel 34 of the door frame 16B.
In order to attach the door weather strip 30 thus arranged, the width of the exterior vertical wall 32 of the outer panel 34 of the door frame 16B is decreased, and a door molding 36 that also acts as a retainer for the door weather strip 30 is attached to the door frame 16B. In this example, the door weather strip 30 is arranged such that an exterior weather strip 38 and an interior weather strip 40 are separately formed, and that exterior weather strip 38 with decreased dimensions is attached to the door molding 36. And a seal portion of the exterior weather strip 38 is made small as a seal lip portion with a lip-like configuration, whereas the interior weather strip 40 is located downwardly of the exterior weather strip 38, and is attached to an interior side of the door frame 16B with an interior base portion 44 while effecting a seal with a tubular seal portion 46 (Publication of Japanese Patent application No. 2007-191075, for example,).
In this example, in order to attach the exterior weather strip 38 of the door weather strip 30 to the door frame 16B, an exterior base portion 48 of an upper side section and a vertical side section of the door weather strip 30 is composed of a solid material, and is fitted in a retainer 50 that is provided by bending the door molding 36. In corner sections that are formed by molding, however, the seal lip 42 must be composed of a sponge material in view of its sealing properties so that it is difficult to compose the exterior base portion 48 of the door weather strip 30 of a solid material.
In another example shown in FIG. 4, only an interior weather strip 52 of a door weather strip 54 is cut away from at least one of an upper side section 56 and a vertical side section 58 thereof, and then the upper side section 56 and the vertical side section 58 are joined to each other, thereby defining a corner section 60 (Publication of Japanese Patent application No. 2009-6851, for example.).
In this example, an exterior base portion 62 of the exterior weather strip 64 is composed of a solid material, and this solid base portion 62 can be extended to the corner section 60. As a result, the strength of the corner section 60 can be enhanced to prevent the corner section 60 from coming off a door sash.
In addition, an insert 66 has been embedded in one part of the corner section 60.
However, the process of cutting away only the interior weather strip 52 except for the exterior weather strip 64, and the process of inserting the insert 66 become complex to take time and labor.